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Joyce F. Jackson, President and CEO, Northwest Kidney Centers

New Horizons for Kidney Health: Northwest Kidney Centers Makes Significant Commitments at White House Summit on Organ Transplants


By Joyce F. Jackson
President and CEO
Northwest Kidney Centers


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Original Publish Date: July 12, 2016

Northwest Kidney Centers recently was invited to join dozens of companies, foundations, universities, hospitals and advocacy groups from across the country in Washington, D.C. for a White House-sponsored summit on organ transplants. From the public to the private sector, from microscopic work with stem cells to big picture projects transforming technology systems, the summit galvanized thought and energy around increased organ availability and decreased waiting time for patients.

Our organization was among a handful of dialysis providers asked to participate, all representing the Nonprofit Kidney Care Alliance, a national coalition of dialysis organizations. Northwest Kidney Centers approached the summit from our perspective as an independent nonprofit, with deep connections to our local community.

Even though it means a loss of patient revenue, we work hard to facilitate kidney transplants and we cheer every time a patient leaves us because they’ve had a successful transplant. For many (though not all) kidney patients, a transplant represents their best chance at living the life they were meant to have.

White House officials said the June 13 summit’s goals were to increase the number of people who register as organ donors, to increase the number of transplants, improve patient outcomes and to facilitate breakthrough research and development.

Many participating organizations committed to creative new actions, compiled by the White House in a fact sheet. Based on these promises, I believe we are on the threshold of some amazing advances in how we support and treat people in need of an organ transplant.

Here are a few sample commitments from around the country, announced at the summit:

Bringing the summit’s goals closer to home, Northwest Kidney Centers has committed to:

The Center for Dialysis Innovation will focus on extending the lifetimes of people with irreversible kidney failure, improving their quality of life and increasing opportunities for rehabilitation and transplant. The center will bring together physicians, engineers, scientists and kidney patients in two teams, one focused on bioengineering, the other on kidney research. It will have hubs at Harborview Medical Center and in the Bioengineering Department on the University of Washington campus.

For people waiting to receive a kidney, the achievement of the stated goals will have profound implications.

The organ donor wait list

Every 10 minutes another person is added to the national organ transplant wait list, now more than 120,000 people long. About 80 percent of them are waiting for a kidney, with an average wait time of three to five years.

At Northwest Kidney Centers, nearly a quarter of our dialysis patients are on the waiting list. We are pleased to report that they already are 80 percent more likely than peers across the country to get a kidney transplant, thanks to our active patient education, promotion and coordination with the three excellent transplant centers in Seattle: Swedish, UW Medicine and Virginia Mason.

Last year more than 30,000 organ transplants were done in the United States, the most ever.

Transplant versus dialysis

For people experiencing irreversible kidney failure, dialysis has been the first line of treatment, partly because donated organs are in short supply. But for those who can find a living donor or make their way to the top of the waiting list, transplant often is the preferred option. It makes sense health-wise and economically:

Today the break-even point for a kidney transplant is two and a half years of dialysis.

Transplant is not a cure for kidney failure. It comes with a burden of continued treatment – a lifetime on a rigid regimen of anti-rejection drugs – plus side effects like puffiness and other discomforts. But it offers an alternative to connecting to a dialysis machine three to five times a week for a blood-cleansing, life-sustaining treatment, and that means a more relaxed, flexible lifestyle.

Seattle at the epicenter of kidney treatment

Repeated dialysis was made possible by the invention of a new device to connect to the bloodstream. It happened at the University of Washington in 1960, and in 1962 Northwest Kidney Centers was founded as the first out-of-hospital treatment organization anywhere. From right here in Seattle, dialysis treatment spread around the world. We’re building on an illustrious heritage.

Stay tuned. The next revolution in kidney treatment is not far away.

Joyce F. Jackson is president and CEO of Northwest Kidney Centers, a regional, independent, not-for-profit provider of kidney dialysis, public health education and research into the causes and treatments of chronic kidney disease. With 15 clinics and $120 million in annual revenue, it is among the largest dialysis providers in the country. The organization gives 250,000 treatments each year, more than a quarter of all dialysis treatments in the state of Washington.